Blossoming
by xDisgraceful Avengerx
Summary: From the moment she sat foot inside Konoha High, Sakura Haruno knew she was an outcast. Modern AU, NaruSaku.
1. Introduction to Hell

**Warning for OOC at start. Will get better later on. **

**Title: Blossoming**

**Author: xDisgraceful Avengerx**

**Rating: M**

**Warnings: Modern AU, intimacy, language, possible lemons and attempted rape later on. Based off the book "Speak", but will take a different storyline.**

* * *

It is the very first day of my freshman year of high school. I have five new notebooks, a dress that I hate, and a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The schoolbus stop at my corner. The door opens, and I step up. I am the first stop of the day. The driver pulls away from the curb while I stand in the aisle. Where to sit? I've never been a backseat wastecase. If I sit in the middle, I'll probably end up sitting next to someody I don't know. If I sit in the front, I'll look like a little kid.

I sling my stuff into the second seat on the right. It's probably the best place for me to make eye contact with my friends- that is, if any of them have decided to talk to me yet.

The bus picks up students in groups of four to six people. As they walk down the aisle, people who were my middle school lab partners or gym buddies glare at me. I close my eyes. This is what I've been dreading. As we pull away from the last stop, I am the only person sitting alone.

The engine of the bus clanks as we wheel down the hill. People in the back holler something obsene. I twitch. Somebody near me is wearing just a bit too much cologne. I try to open my window, but the latches don't move. I guy behind me unwraps his breakfast and pitches the wrapper into my lap; a Zinger. I pick it up and toss it back over to him. Ass.

We pass the janitors replacing the sign in front of the high school. Where it used to say "Konoha High- home of the ninjas", it has been reconstructed to something unrecognizeable.

Older students are free to walk around until the final bell, but us ninth-graders are all herded straight into the auditorium. We fall into clans; Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Savants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Big Hair Peeps, Eurotrash, Future Facists of America,Suffering Artists, Thespians, Goths, Shredders...

I am clanless. I wasted the last few weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn't go to the mall, the pool, the park, or answer the phone. I have entered high school with the wrong everything. And I don't have anyone to sit with.

I am Outcast.

There's no point in looking for the people who used to be my friends. Our clan has splintered, and the pieces are now sitting amongst rival factions. Tenten lounges with the jocks, comparing scars from summer sports. Temari floats between both the Thespians and the Shredders, showing just how diverse her personality is. Hinata has moved. No real loss there; she was mostly Tenten's friend.

The kids behind me laugh so loud I know that they're talking about me. So I turn, and find myself face-to-face with Ino Yamanaka, surrounded by a bunch of kids with clothes that definitely didn't come from the northside mall. Ino Yamanaka, my ex-best friend. She stares at something over my head. Words climb up my throat. Ino was the girl who suffered through girl scouts with me, who taught me how to swim, who understood about my parents, and who didn't ridicule the bedroom I hadn't redecorated since third grade. If there is anyone in the entire galaxy I want to tell the truth to, it's Ino.

She finally looks at me. "I hate you." She mouths. I feel the words I'd built up get knocked down. My throat burns. She turns back around and laughs with her friends. I bite my lip. I'm not going to think about the incident. I'm not going to think about it.

I bite down on my lip. It tastes like metal. I need to sit down. I grab the closest possible seat I can. a blond guy on my left turns to me. He's got whisker like marks on his cheeks and a smile that shows he's packing about four grand worth of orthodontia, but looks nice enough. "Welcome to hell." He says.

"Thanks." I reply. He grins, leaning in a bit.

"No problem. I'm-"

"Sit!" A man's voice yells. The guy goes rigid. I turn as a Predator approaches. He's got scars on his face and a large black trenchcoat. The first thing I think is "social studies teacher". The lights dim, and thus the indictment begins.

**The First Ten Lies They Tell You In High School:**

1. We are here to help you.

2. You will have enough time to get to class before the bell rings.

3. The dress code will be enforced.

4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.

5. Our football team will win the championship this year.

6. We expect more from you here.

7. Guidance councelors are always available to listen. (This one is a real load of shit.)

8. Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.

9. Your locker combo is private.

10. These will be years you look back on fondly.

My first class is Biology. I can't find it and earn my first demerit for wandering the halls. It is 8:47 am. Only 699 days and seven class periods until graduation.

* * *

**Okay, people. If you want me to continue, I'm going to need at least five reviews. Also, please tell me what I can do better. I suck at characterization, so I'm gradually trying to improve it. Thanks anyway.**


	2. PhysEd, ExFriends, and Chocolate Milk

**Well, I'm disappointed that I didn't get as many reviews first chapter as I would've liked, but whatever. I'm nice. I'll update. (Heh, me nice...XD) Anyway, I'm somewhat disappointed with the way this chapter turned out, so all I can really do is pray it isn't completely horrible. Like I said earlier, I have some trouble with characterization.**

* * *

Gym is humiliating. It shouldn't even exist.

My gym locker resides closest to the door, meaning that I have to change in a bathroom stall, not only because I don't want to get peeped on, but also because I prefer not to have doors hit me while I'm getting dressed.

The only other girl I know in gym is Temari. Back in our old clan, we had never been very close. She almost dropped me a comment when school started, but ended up looking away in embarrassment and fiddling with her hair. Temari has a full-length locker in a fresh-smelling alcove due to the fact she's on the track team. She doesn't mind changing her clothes in public, unlike most girls. She even changes bras during gym. If you're that strong, you won't care how many people make comments about your boobs or rear end.

Anyway, gym. It's late August, and our teacher has decided to start us on a field hockey unit. Field hockey is a mud sport, played only on cold and wet days, Who dreamed it up again? Temari is unstoppable at field hockey, plowing her way downfield so fast she creates a wake of flowing mud to cover anyone who gets in her way. She does something with her wrist and the ball is suddenly in the goal. Makes it look easy.

Gym teacher Anko holds a special place in her heart for Temari. She shows "potential". One day she scored thirty-five goals and my team threatened to walk off the field. Not only did we lose, but four girls went to the nurse with injuries. Temari comes from the "play until death or maiming" school of athletics.

If it weren't for her attitude, I could deal with gym. But Temari is so...just, well, herself. And that god-awful smirk. But despite all that, Temari isn't that much of a bitch. It would be so much easier to hate her if she was.

* * *

I'm in the bathroom after gym trying to put my right contact lens back in. _She_ stands next to me, smudging mascara on around her eyes. I think about running out so she can't pull the evil-eye on me again, but Ibiki (aka, freaky Social Studies teacher) is patrolling the hall, he already hates me, and I don't have a pass.

Me: "Hey, Ino..."

Ino: "Forehead."

Now what? I'll be completely and totally cool. Just act like nothings happened. That's right...

Me: "How's it going?" I try to put in the contact and poke myself in the eye. Yeah. Very cool.

Ino: "Eh..."

I don't want to be cool. I want to grab her by the neck and shake her, and scream in her face until she acknowledges me. She didn't even bother to find ut the truth about that night-what kind of friend is she? My contact folds in half under my eyelid. It hurts.

Me: "Ouch!"

Ino: Snorts and stands back from mirror, admiring her makeup job. "Definitely better." She walks toward the door and exits the bathroom. I am left standing there in silence, water running and a broken contact lens on the floor.

* * *

I find my locker after English. The lock sticks a bit, but I manage to pry it open. It is currently lunch time. I dive into the endless stream of fourth-period lunch students and find my way to the cafeteria.

I know enough not to bring lucnh on the first day of school, incase I end up completely out of the lunch-bag trends. God, who comes up with these things anyway? No matter. Buying does at least some good, giving me a chance to scan the cafeteria for an inconspicuous spot or an accepting face.

I see a few of my former friends, but they all look away as soon as they see me staring. Think fast, Sakura, think fast. There's that one blonde guy with the whiskers, sitting by himself near the window, staring down at his cup ramen and smiling. I could sit across from him. Or I could dump my lunch and go squat in some janitor's closet until the end of the period. I could even crawl behind the trash can.

The guy from the bus is standing in front of me, waving to some of his friends. I try and move around him quickly. My elbow hits his tray and suddenly, I feel my entire left side drenched with a cold, sticky substance. Chocolate milk.

All conversation stops as the lunch room stares, openmouthed. My tray clatters to the floor. The guy apologizes, and starts to say something else, but it is drowned out by the sudden onslaught of laughter. I look around the room one more time. The blonde guy looks up, and offers a sympathetic glance. Ino is having a very unlady-like laughing attack, clutching her side. I feel my face start to heat up as I turn, and start to run.

I am almost to the bathroom, when I hear a pair of footsteps echoing from behind me. "Oi! Where you going?" Somebody yells loudly. I turn.

"I-I..." I start, but I can't seem to form a sentence. My vision blurs slightly. I grab ahold of the wall.

"You, uh...I mean, uh...well, it sucked, huh? But...hey, what's your name, anyway?" I manage to stutter something out. I can't even tell if it's legible sounding.

"Sakura-chan." He says. He pulls of his blindingly orange hoodie. "Take it." I look at him.

"What are you-"

"I'm serious, take it." He says. I hesitantly do. "Now you're going to come back in, and you're going to sit down and have lunch with me."

"Why?" I ask.

"Cause you're my friend!" He exclaimes, grinning goofily.

"_What?"_ I ask. "I don't even _know _you!"

He frowns for a second, before smiling again. "Ne ne, Sakura-chan. It doesn't matter! We-"

"Thanks for the jacket," I say, pushing past him. "I'll talk to you later."

"W-wait! You- I mean-" he starts, but I don't hear what he has to say, as I start running again, pulling myself into the closest bathroom I see.

"I don't..." I say, despite the fact that nobody can hear me. "It wasn't...my fault..."


End file.
